Science - International Graduate Program Medical Neurosciences

10 CNSNewsletter June 2011
From the ’Deutscher Meister‘ of
Skateboarding to the Chairman of
Experimental Neurology
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Dirnagl, Experimental Neurology
In this issue, we present you our
research on one of the main
program coordinators of Medical
Neurosciences, Prof. Ulrich Dirnagl.
Nobody who is somehow related to
MedNeuro can possibly avoid getting in
contact with him, his research and his
great ambition of proper research. In this
interview, he tells us more about how
he fi rst became one of Germany‘s fi rst
skateboarder, than stroke researcher,
what he likes to do besides research and
which scientists he really appreciates.
Enjoy getting to know him a little closer!
JR: At which moment or
circumstance did you decide to become
a neuroscientist?
UD: I was a medical student at Munich
University, and was looking for a thesis
topic. This was the time when computing
made the transition from machines about
the size of two large freezers - the most
popular one in biomedicine was called
PDP-8, and had to be programmed in the
machine language Assembler - to smaller,
so called ‚personal computers‘, many
running the operating system CP/M. My
father, who was a physicist doing medical
research, was at that time working with
mainframe computers that hardly fi t
into a large room (IBM S/3 and Cray-1).
He was able to read the punch cards
with which he fed programs to these
monsters, which had the computing
power of a Sony Playstation 3 today. I felt
that I was missing the action, and that
I wanted to learn about computers and
programming, but not from my father.
So I was looking for a thesis supervisor
2011 International Graduate Program Medical Neurosciences
with some background in computers. I
was tipped off that there is this guy in
neurology who is knowledgeable about
computers, Karl Einhäupl, that he is a
nice guy, and that he might have a thesis
project for me. I ended up doing a thesis
project with him on oscillations in the
intracranial pressure of patients on the
neurointensive care unit. I was writing
programs that collected the data from
multiparametric montoring and analysed
it. I fi nally wrote up my thesis on a my own
computer, which I had built by soldering
together scrap parts that Einhäupl
got from his brother, who worked in a
computer factory. It had 64 kB of RAM
- of which the whole operating system
CP/M occupied 16 kB, a Z80 CPU, and
weighed 20 kg. I loved it, and christened
it ‘Arnold‘, because it was so powerful! So
did I decide to become a neuroscientist?
No, it was pure serendipity. The punch
line is that Karl Einhäupl is now CEO of
the Charite, and he needs assistance
when using his Windows-PC...
JR: How did stroke research become
your focus of interest?
After graduating as an MD, I felt that
it is time to do some ‘serious research‘.
So I helped setting up an experimental
laboratory focussing on bacterial
meningitis at Munich University. There, I
realized that I am an amateur in science,
and that I needed to learn the tools
of the trade. For reasons completely
unrelated to science this had to take
place in New York City. From my work at
the Neurointensive Care unit I knew that
at Cornell University Fred Plum was head
of the Neurology Department, and that
he had some cutting edge researchers
working at the boundaries of basic science
and clinical neurology. So I applied for a
stipend, and joined William Pulsinelli‘s
cerebrovascular laboratory, at that time
the Olymp of basic stroke research. This
was at a time when everyone was excited
about NMDA receptor antagonists such
as MK-801, and a treatment of stroke
seemed just around the corner. However,
my fi rst assignment in the lab was to
teach them statistics and computers.
Bill was a very thorough researcher, and
mistrusted most data, including the one
from his own lab. So he made us replicate
each others data, of course in a blinded
fashion. I sincerely believe that if this
approach would have become standard
in all labs worldwide, we would see much
more robust data, less crab publications,
and a higher success rate in bench to
bedside translation. So why did I focus
on stroke research? Again, it was pure
serendipity.
JR: What impressed or astonished
you the most during your career?
Good news fi rst, on impression:
Embarassingly, it was the realization
of the role of evolution in biology in